The Last Stand
by Ultima66
Summary: Sequel to The Darkest Hour. If you haven't read it yet, you better do it now, or this will be confusing to you. Akar tries to do his service by guarding Yggdrasil, but a Midgard invasion threatens the forest, Martel, and Akar's place in the world. Rated T
1. Prologue

The Last Stand

By Ultima66

Prologue

What had happened exactly? Everything now went so slow. A breeze picked up, but it still seemed so boring. Nothing went by that really caught any more attention, and lacking attention to the boring outside world, everything seemed completely dull.

Wandering through memories, some would call it, I suppose. I was traveling the paths I had taken before, what may have been days, maybe months, maybe even years ago. I did not know, for all of life was monotonous to me. I had to look closely, looking on the outside to find what I lost inside myself. I saw all that I had dome, those that I had left behind where no one would find them, and those that I had left where I knew someone would come. I felt the world slipping by so slowly that I felt had I even done anything different, nothing would have changed.

And yet I wandered through my old life in a sort of daze. It seemed very eerie, and everything was imprinted into my mind way too tightly, like I felt that everything should have been unfamiliar to me and yet should have been completely embedded in my brain at the same time. When I thought that I knew everything I needed to know so long ago, I realized that all I knew was blind impulse. I didn't really know anything. I wondered to myself, did Dhaos understand that much? I knew that before, I carried with me Dhaos' spirit, and I should have been inclined to do what he felt, meaning I would have felt what he did. That would mean that Dhaos himself only understood blind rage. There was, however, another side too. Maybe I only felt Dhaos' revenge, because when he was released, he carried his mind still with him, leaving me only rage. I was unsure, but I knew even less whether or not it was of any significance. I didn't know if my past meant anything at all to Martel any more, and I had no clue if it even ever did mean anything to her.

But I understood my life right now, or at least what I needed to. Even if nothing else made any sense at all, I knew I was here for a reason: a goal. I had to do what Martel wanted, and above all else, keep Yggdrasil safe from outside harm. So thinking about it that way also puts it as another blind following. Had I really changed, or was I still just the same as before, following a new will? I didn't think I was under control any more, though, because I knew Martel was the protector of the world, and should be treated as I treated her. Even so, the thought of doing exactly as she said to do seemed all to mechanical for my comfort.

I stood near where Cless and Mint were buried. Looking around, inside my head I now saw the horrifying blood on the ground where the two had once given their lives. I chilled me to the bone to envision this, and I fell into more confusion.

Everywhere I looked... All I saw was blood and death. Why? Who could answer this? Why did I kill so many? I don't think I wanted to kill, and given the choice now, I definitely wouldn't, but I knew my past actions would plague me and could do nothing. I suppose there was a reason I killed so many, and I suppose it could be put down on paper in very simple terms, technical terms that explained a lot of things, but I didn't any more sense. In my mind, the world, the land, the sky, the oceans, everything, they were just there. They carried no more meaning. Perhaps what I'm saying is indescribable, but perhaps it is. There was just... no spark. There was no connection that registered my mind as being familiar with anything, yet they didn't seem distant either: of course I was familiar with everything around me. I simply felt like a machine, completely mechanical and not actually realizing anything. A machine could answer a lot, but what did anything mean to a machine? Nothing. And I felt that way. It seemed as if I knew all the answers, but I didn't understand them. They were all just by rote. How could I say I was under Dhaos' will? I could not even begin to comprehend Dhaos himself. Everything was just a worthless phrase buried and stuck in the corners of my mind.

But then, I knew I had to feel something. I really did feel something inside me that gave me a place as alive. I felt that I was completely close to Martel, and to me, that small feeling that I was essentially related to Martel gave me all the confidence I really needed. I may not have known much about anything else, but above all I knew one thing. One important thing I kept in my mind, and that was all that I needed to keep to me: I was Akar.


	2. Chapter 1

The Last Stand

By Ultima66

Chapter 1

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History repeats itself. Those sins of the past are bound to become sins of the present and future.

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"Akar."

"What? What is it?"

"An attack is coming our way. Are you ready?"

"I hope so. You're not coming?"

"No. I trust you can handle this."

Akar... still a new word to me. Living in peace and tranquility for so long, this was the first thing to break the silence: the first big thing to come my way ever since Martel had found me so long ago.

"What do they plan to gain from this exactly?" I asked her.

"Mana. You see, they need the tree. They want the tree so they can get him back," she responded.

"How do they expect to take you exactly? The goddess of mana? These people seem really foolish," I said.

"Or... they could have developed a dangerous new weapon. You should be careful," she told me.

We had been tracking the movements of the great empire of Midgard for quite a while now, and watching all of their conquests in lands far from our home. Now they wanted to capture Yggdrasil so that they could obtain the mana to recreate Dhaos. Of course, the problem was that they could never actually succeed in obtaining the mana without Martel giving them her powers, and I say no way that mere soldiers from Midgard could capture Martel. At any rate, I was going to find out what was going on in the forest.

I glowed with white light for a minute, then a burst of light came out of my body and when the light faded away, it revealed my form as a beautiful white bird. I had changed a lot since my entrance into Martel's guiding light, and the biggest change was that now I was in touch with the forest and more in touch with Yggdrasil. I flew off, toward the edge of the forest. After flying for a while, I stopped at the edge of the forest and looked around. Seeing nothing there at the moment, I decided to perch in a tree and wait a while.

"A while" decided to come all too soon. Before I had any idea what was happening, a huge yellow beam of energy struck the trees to my left, igniting the trees from the branches up. Descending to the ground, I returned to my normal human-like spirit form. I began casting a spell, and then held my hand up in the air as green waves of energy flowed out of it, flowing all the way to the trees, putting out the fires and regenerating what damage had been done.

"Look what we have here," said a voice coming from behind me. I turned around to see a man in armor leading a group of Midgard soldiers, an enormous cannon from which the blast obviously came from in the middle of them, being dragged by several men. "So, a guardian of the forest has come thinking he can stop us. Of course, you have no idea why we're here, do you?"

"I am Akar, indeed a defender of this forest and of the great mana tree Yggdrasil. I know enough about you, soldiers of Midgard, and I'll tell you this much: if you don't leave at this very moment, then I guarantee that you won't be making it back to your city," I threatened.

Their response was simple and swift. The cannon began glowing, charging up energy to be fired again. I put up a shield of energy as the cannon charged and the soldiers attempted to aim the cannon at me.

"I knew you would try something like this. You see, this cannon here will break you apart, even with your little energy shield. Just give up now like you know you should, and you still have a chance. Or else, this thing will be firing and we won't spare you," the leader said.

I held on to my energy shield. These soldiers had severely underestimated my power, so I knew they couldn't really break down my shield. The cannon glowed even brighter as the all too familiar yellow beam of energy came rocketing out of the barrel right at me and my shield.

Suddenly, the force of my shield collapsed, as I felt it lose power when the cannon went off. The beam quickly rushed in towards the weakened energy shield and shattered it to pieces, knocking me down.

"What the hell was that?" I yelled, now on the ground, "That cannon couldn't have broken my shield, but I felt my energy shield drain to almost no power before the blast actually hit it."

"Doesn't it remind you of something from quite a while back? Martel should remember it perfectly. You see, the researchers at Midgard redesigned the original mana cannon used in fighting Dhaos. Now, it's much more controlled, and since we're actually after the mana tree, it doesn't consume the world's mana. Now, the cannon simply takes all the available mana nearby and uses it for the attack. You didn't actually think that we'd enter a forest of mana and not be ready for the guardians? I think that view of Midgard should be cast away. You thought we were idiots? Well now you're the one looking stupid," he said.

I quickly got up and leapt at the pack of soldiers, holding out my sword in from, charging a spell from the sword. This time I knew that I wouldn't let these soldiers get the best of me. The response I received was just as I had predicted: the soldiers began charging up the mana cannon for another shot at me.

"Lightning Blade!"

A storm of focused electricity rushed out of my sword in a large torrent at the cannon. Unable to absorb all the energy of the powerful spell, the cannon began emitting smoke and glowed uncontrollably. Then, when the cannon couldn't take any more, it exploded in an enormous blast, sending everyone nearby to the ground, including me. I got up to my feet as quickly as I could.

"I told you that you guys wouldn't get out of here safely if you didn't retreat. Now it looks like you're just going to have to face that reality. What are you going to do now?" I said to the soldiers, still on the ground.

They rose to their feet slowly, pulling out their own swords and pointing them at me menacingly.

"You think you can take all of us on?" said the commander. The troops were several dozen in number, but still no real threat to me with my vast power. Of course, he didn't know that. "And there are more cannons coming from Midgard. What are you going to do then, huh? You can't possibly expect to defeat an entire empire by yourself, even if you are a guardian. I bet you can't even defeat all the troops right here, can you? Why don't you just try?"

"Is that a challenge? I'll do more than try: I'll win. You guys better not be suicidal. I'll have mercy and let you guys report your loss to Midgard if you start running now. And I mean now," I said.

They dashed towards me. I charged another spell, and then ran towards the soldiers slashing at them, holding off their rain of blades all attempting to hit me. I leapt into the air when they surrounded me.

"Fireball!"

I shot a fireball straight down, propelling me upwards further away from the soldiers, and killing several of them. I transformed myself into a dazzling phoenix in midair and flew around in several wide circles building up my energy before I made one huge dash back down towards the remaining soldiers.

"You guys are absolutely worthless!" yelled the commander, "We have to win for Midgard, you idiots! Whatever happened to glory for the empire? Is this glory? Losing a whole troop to a single guardian? Do something!"

I flew mach speed through the remaining soldiers, so much heat built up in my wings that they simply tore apart the soldiers without causing me any drag at all when I ran through them, many of them being sliced in half, the rest burned to death. I descended and returned to my normal form, and looked at the commander, now with a worried look on his face.

"So, what was it that you said to me earlier?" I said in a dark tone, reminding me of my old days.

He simply stood there, shocked. There was no way Midgard could expect to lose so many soldiers before even getting into the forest. They thought that their first group would at least get into the forest part of the way at worst.

I threw my sword at him, flying in a straight line, as if guided my magic, with so much force it defied gravity and wind resistance. Making impact with his chest, the blade went straight through his armor near his heart, a large torrent of blood coming out the back, just the handle now sticking out visible in front. With a wave, I recalled the sword, which flew through the air into my hand. Another wave and all the blood on the sword flew off onto the ground. I walked back to the forest.

I thought for a second. Those Midgard soldiers may have been the ones after me, but I felt something stir inside me when I killed them. Something all too familiar, from my days of evil. Perhaps... Perhaps I was as much to blame for the deaths of those soldiers as they were for provoking me to take action against them. Could I really be turning back into my old self again? What I felt back there... I wanted to kill the soldiers, whether or not they were willing to run for their lives. Perhaps it was because I just wanted to protect Yggdrasil. But could it also mean I was turning back? Back into my old evil self? Was I just no better now that I was in the past? No, I answered to myself, but I felt it carried little meaning. Still, I felt I had to be a better person now than I was before. Now I had Martel supporting me.

I made it back to the tree.

"Martel, I found the attackers and killed them, but I was informed by their commander that more soldiers are coming this way from Midgard. Some are probably already on the way. What should we do now?" I asked.

"Akar, I can see it in you. There's something wrong..." she said.

"About the current situation?" I asked.

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean I know how you're feeling right now. I know what you're thinking after killing those soldiers. Really, though, there's nothing to worry about right now. You see, to be a guardian, it is your job to protect the tree. As a guardian you must protect at all costs that which you are keeping safe. And all costs includes having to let lives die in order to save other lives. War will be war, and there's nothing you can do about it. In war there are always deaths; they just have to take place. You should know, in a fight, it's either you or the one you're fighting. There's nothing you can do about it.. You understand this much?" she replied.

"I suppose I understand, and have always known that much. It's just that the pull of my old self is so powerful. I don't ever want to return to that self, so I'm worried it might happen," I said.

"Not while you're with me it won't. I will protect you from the grasp of evil, and don't you forget that. Now, on to the news about the Midgard invasion. So you see any imminent threat that these people might have? They have weapons ready for us, don't they?" she asked.

"Somewhat..." I said, "Well, it's kinda hard to say. You see, these soldiers... well actually the researchers at Midgard... they have recreated the mana cannons. They are made smaller and portable, and what they do is drain all available mana sources nearby of their mana, keeping the tree itself from losing any energy. Unfortunately, as long as they are anywhere near either of us, there is plenty of mana energy and they can effectively turn our power against us. They seem quite powerful, but I could handle the first one, so they're not impossible."

Martel though looked very worried when I mentioned the creation of the smaller mana cannons.

"Akar, you don't understand enough just yet. You don't feel the tree's life force as I do. You don't feel all the pain, the suffering the tree undergoes. You see, when the original mana cannon was first fired in the assault against Dhaos, I felt all that pain that the tree felt, and it was like nothing that I had ever experienced before. After the mana was drained from the tree at such a huge amount, I was hurt, and worse still, I had no more energy left to do anything about it. All my attempts to do anything simply slowed down the collapse and eventual self-destruction of the mana tree in such a fragile state. Of course, you know how I got out of that. Mint came with the other heroes of time and she used her gift to heal the tree, stopping the regression of mana and putting the tree back into a stable but still healing state," she said.

"Mint..." I looked down, staring at the ground below. That name. It bore a hole through my heart at the mention of the name. Her and the names of any of the other people I killed. They all plagued me now, tearing me apart from the inside out. It was such a terrible thing I did...

"I know you feel bad, Akar. It's just fine to feel bad after causing pain to others. It's a good thing: it's you're conscience. Well, as I was saying, the reason I was shocked at the mention of the mana cannon is because I can't handle it any more. I can't handle any more mana being drained away from the tree. I hate to say this to you, but you have to know: Understand that if Midgard isn't stopped in their plans of conquest, I will soon cease to exist. I will die without Yggdrasil. That's why it's so important to me that you keep Yggdrasil safe," she said.

"No! That's not going to happen! I won't allow it!" I yelled out. I was scared. I could barely handle the pain I had caused others, only to have to think about Martel dying. It was too much... too much. "More than enough good people have died under me, and I won't let you slip under my protection. Promise me that you'll be safe. Promise me!" I said. Martel had to suffer through my evil. It could have completely broken her heart, having people she cared for killed by the one she cared for most. I wasn't about to allow my creator to suffer and more, especially not to the greedy hands of ignorant humans that had no idea what they were really going to do if they succeeded in recreating Dhaos again.

"Akar, do not worry. I don't think I can promise you anything, but I will tell you that you shouldn't worry because I do not worry, and I'm the one that should care the most. Do you understand why I feel that everything will work out in the end and we'll be just fine? It's because that I know I've got you to count on. You feel that I'm perfect, right? Well if you're right, then you're perfect too. I don't make poor creations, and you're no exception. If you fail, then that means I have failed against the humans, and that I deserve to be gone," she told me.

"Don't say that, Martel... You're wishing yourself failure by saying you might not deserve to live," I said, "Well, anyways, I'll do everything that I possibly can, since you're counting on it."

"I know you will do what you can, Akar, and I think I can count on you all the way," she replied, "Is there anything else of major importance that I should know about?"

"I can't really say... I'm thinking about it, but there's nothing I really noticed other than the cannon. You know, now that I think about it, we do have one thing we have to do. We have to try to figure out how Midgard will respond to the failure of their first attack group. They might get angry and send more troops, or we might have hurt their morale a little, " I said. I tried to clear away my worry by thinking, but inside, something ate at my heart.

"Well you're right about needing to figure out how their response will go. Well, I don't think they even know that their first group failed and was killed, along with the cannon destroyed, but I think that they'll know soon enough, and I'm expecting a large problem," she said.

"Why do you figure that? We might have actually hurt them a bit in terms of morale," I said.

"Because," She told me, "I know Midgard. They're not the kind to just give up like that. Their empire is home to the single most powerful research group that I know of, of course run mainly by half-elves nonetheless, and their main controlling body is that corrupt empire that's willing to go however far they need to take what they want. They may or may not be smart, but because of the environment there, whatever the empire wants, it forces the civilians to do. They fired the mana cannon a long time ago, and that was when they knew it would hurt me and they even assumed I was on their side because they believed I wanted to see Dhaos destroyed too. Of course, now they're even more corrupt and they believe that if they create Dhaos, they can control him. And their technology is better too. They knew their first group would fail, and only sent it to see just how hard it would be to penetrate the forest."

"It happened once before too... Once when Cless had no idea what was going on, Dhaos was unsealed, and that time, humans too believed they could control him," I said, mostly to myself, "I can't let those humans recreate Dhaos. The first time, it was a disaster, and it took all the heroes of time to fix it. Now this time... the heroes of time are gone, and it's all my fault."

"Don't you see? That's exactly why you're here, Akar. Like you said yourself, the first time that Dhaos was unsealed it was because Cless didn't know his pendant was one of the pendants that sealed Dhaos in the mausoleum and he didn't know that his uncle was under enough pressure by the evil soldiers that wished to get back Dhaos that he would sell Cless out for his own safety. But you won't fail like he did, Akar. I know that because if Dhaos is to be recreated, then that energy consumed to recreate him would destroy the tree, and I know you won't let that happened," she told me.

"Well, I suppose we have no other choice right now than to think positive and hope Midgard won't be able to take the forest," I said.

I glowed and turned into my bird form again. I flew off, back towards the edge of the forest. No matter how much everything seemed to be turning against me, how much everything in the world seemed to throw all their might at me and Martel, I knew one important thing that kept me going no matter what: I had Martel's support all the way and that wouldn't change.

I stopped by the edge of the forest again, landing on a branch of a tree where I could look out.

Was everything really going so bad? Everything seemed pretty fine in reality. Perhaps everything only looked bad because of fear and pessimism, since so far nothing horrible had happened. Losing the heroes of time put me up to the job as guardian of Yggdrasil, and if I was the one that was able to kill the heroes of time, didn't that actually put the tree in better hands now than it was in before? Then again, there were indeed differences. Mint was no longer here, and she was the chosen one. She was the only one that could help the tree if it ever fell into trouble. And I stayed in the forest all the time, and made very little contact with outside cities, meaning there were less voices to speak against the empire of Midgard and to unite people against it, meaning they had more focus against the forest now.

An all-too-familiar sound rang though the air. A pretty weak shot fired from another mana cannon. Looking up, I saw the blast pointing upwards. It seemed as if the soldiers knew that the first group had failed, and they were warning us that we would be in trouble and that more troops were coming in and they didn't expect to fail. Everything was now or never, and Martel depended on it. This had to take place now, and I had to win. This was to be the last stand: for me, for the great forest, for Yggdrasil, and most of all, for Martel.


	3. Chapter 2

The Last Stand

By Ultima66

Chapter 2

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Some lives are lost, and some are found. We all search for our lives one time or another, and to make our lives whole, we must find them first.

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A breeze blew past my head, lifting up the small feathers on the back of my bird form's neck. Why was my life so difficult? Why was I always the one plagued with more and more difficulties, more and more work that I didn't want yet had to do? I was always under stress in my past life to go on, to do what I felt I had to do, to kill. Now, plagued with all these new difficulties and pressures: to keep Martel safe, to protect Yggdrasil, to keep the forest's mana out of reach of the humans. I already asked Martel for a chance to just die in peace before she made me a guardian, but she didn't allow it. She wanted me there by her side when the whole world turned upside down and no one knew what was really going on.

Did my small life mean anything now? I still have a sinking feeling, a feeling that I had no control. In my past life, even though it was perfectly clear that I had no control, at least I felt that I did. Now that I probably was independent outside of Martel's guidance, I felt that I was under the control of Martel. I had to do everything for her. I didn't understand any more, and I don't think I ever did. Martel commanded me, and I did. I was supposed to do what I wanted on my own, but somehow it didn't work. My duty to Martel was so great I had no real control.

Like now, I was scouting for Martel's purpose. What did it matter to me if the world collapsed into ruin? If I was never made a guardian, I could have avoided this completely. Yet I don't think I could give it up. Perhaps upholding such responsibility redeemed me and made me a real person, not just an incarnation of evil. Perhaps Martel really did have complete control over me. Perhaps it was something else, something that everyone realizes deep down inside yet no one can explain, like the meaning of life itself.

I was like everyone else now, I supposed. Searching and searching for what my life meant, yet never really finding anything.

I descended and glided along the broad plains, wings spread out feeling the wind. When I flew I felt free and no longer under the chains of life, even though I knew that everything was weighing down so heavily right now. Though I was now free, I only felt that way when I truly was soaring through the skies, with no more to worry about but the calm rush of wind around me.

Nothing was happening. After circling around for about an hour, I decided to just go back to the forest. Flying back in towards the edge of the trees, I turned back to my normal state. Being a bird was nice, but I had no choice since I wanted to get back and I couldn't fly through the trees. I walked in to the forests slowly, still thinking like I always did.

Around me everything was serene and peaceful. Birds chirped in the trees, slowly moving back in after the first pack from Midgard caused a bit of trouble here. The forest was alive and buzzing, but still completely calm. Suddenly, I felt a presence near me on the ground. Listening closely, I heard a girl's voice, sobbing quietly.

I walked towards the noise. A young girl was laying down in the thicket face down, her long blond hair reaching to her waist. She wore a long yellow dress, and was lying there with her hands up to her face crying. I slowly waked up to her, knelt down, and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" I asked. She turned around slowly and sat up, her eyes watery and red from her crying.

"Who are you? Please, don't hurt me," she said weakly.

"What's your name? I'm not here to do anything to you. In fact, if you're looking for a safe place, then I would be exactly who you're looking for," I said, "I'm a guardian of the mana tree Yggdrasil. My name is Akar."

She looked down, took a few heavy breaths, and spoke. "Akar, sir, I'm sorry for intruding in the forest, but..." she said, breaking out into more cries of sadness.

"It's okay. Everything will be alright," I said, patting her on the back, "Just tell me your name and what you're doing here." I knew very well she was hiding from something, but I needed to know what, though I had a good guess...

"My name is Karen," she said finally calming down, "I'm from Midgard, but I'm not with the soldiers or the empire. I don't know how to say this, but..." She broke down again. "Look, I... my... THAT EMPIRE KILLED MY PARENTS!" She yelled, before she broke down into uncontrollable crying and wracking sobs that shook me, holding her tight and trying to calm her down.

"I understand. But why are you here? I don't want to tell you this, but as of right now, Midgard soldiers are moving in on this forest, and I'm here to make sure they don't get what they want," I told her, "I promised that to Martel, and I plan to keep that promise, especially when I'm dealing with something as terrible as the Midgard Empire."

She opened her eyes wide at the mention of Midgard invading the forest.

"They're... coming here?" she said weakly, "Sir, let me explain this all to you. You see, my mother was an elf, and my father a researcher. We lived in Midgard for a while, yes, and then the empire started its campaign for mana. My parents knew that it would be a disaster if they succeeded, and they held protest against the empire and tried to directly stop the war machine from functioning. Of course, with all the fear everywhere, the government didn't want any interference from opponents, before the sad villagers all grouped together against them. They came after my parents..."

She looked down and I felt a few more sobs shake her.

"They... they came after my parents. They came, with swords and cannons and chains. My parents... they didn't fight it. They knew... they knew they were... I'm sorry but I can't go on. I feel sick..." she said.

"It's okay, like I said," I told her, "Here, let me help. And please, don't call me sir. Just call me Akar."

My hand on her back started glowing, as a white energy flowed through her.

"This should ease your pain," I said.

"Thank you, sir... uh, Akar," she said, in a less panicked voice, "Well, my parents knew what they were doing. They were going to be a symbol of the evil going on in Midgard, or that's what my mom told me. They dragged my parents off to the jail. I never saw them for a week..." She stopped and hung her head with closed eyes. She breathed deeply again, and tried to continue. "A week later, the soldiers came and asked me if I wanted to see my parents. I didn't know what I could say or do, but I wanted them back. When I was taken to the jail, I did see them. They were chained up against the wall in different cells, but the cells were next to each other. They were thin and weak. I could barely tell they were the same people as the strong man and woman that fought against Midgard's evil. Their arms and legs had whip marks from them being tortured daily. I cried at the sight of them... I cried out for them. Oh my god..."

She continued crying.

"Let it all out, Karen. It'll all be better. Please, continue," I said.

"Akar, I feel so hurt saying this. I want to just forget everything. The memories hurt. They hurt bad..." she said, "Well I'll continue. I sat there crying for a while, when one of the soldiers in the jail puts his hand on my shoulder and yanks my up. He tells me 'Come on, bitch. Get your last good look at your parents, what's left of them at least.' I spring up in surprise, as my parents, weak, notice I'm here and look at me. My mom says 'Karen... remember, it was... all worth it... As long as Midgard falls... we'll have done our job...' Then the guards of the cells walked in and held up their swords. I felt the whole world spin around in my head then... I was shocked, and could only look up at the horror that was taking place in front of me..."

She buried her crying face in my shoulder, and held her gloved hands and grabbed my back.

"I know it hurts, but..." I said.

"I'll tell you. Those cell guards... they held the swords up to my parents. Then together, with me paralyzed in shock and staring at them, the guards stabbed my parents. Straight... through... their... chests... I'm sorry. I'm scared. I don't want them to get to me," she cried.

"I see. So Midgard isn't settling with the forest. They'll brutally torture and kill anyone just to get what they want. They're a terrible empire, and all the people leading it deserve to rot," I said in anger, "But Karen, how did you end up here?"

"Well, I was still crying, and everything around me was a big mess, but I heard one of them say, 'So, you little bitch. Your parents are gone, and if you don't want to end up like them, you better get the hell out of Midgard. We have orders no opponent of the empire will be allowed to stay in here for any longer, so you better get out. Especially when you know what will happen if you're stupid enough to stay.' He... I felt him press the broad side of a sword up to my stomach, and I jerked back. And then... he moved it up to my neck and pressed it there without actually cutting me. I'll never forget that feeling. The cold steel against my neck, the rush of the fact that I could die in a split second if I moved too much," she said, "So I did what he said. That was the last encounter with humans I ever had, until just now. Right after he released me, I ran screaming out of Midgard. They sent a few people after me, and I just ran and ran. I couldn't do anything else but run, and they chased me all the way to Totus, where I hid out from everyone. Then, when they gave up, I ran all the way over here crying. I miss my parents, Akar, I miss them..."

"Karen, that's a really sad story to hear. I'm sorry for everything that happened to you, and I can only tell you one thing: I'll help you avenge your parents. How would you mind staying with me in the forest?" I said.

"I don't want to be a bother... This is my loss, no need to make it yours too," she said to me.

"It won't be my loss if you help me out. You said your mother was an elf, right? That means that you're a half-elf, so you should be able to use magic. A half-elf..." I repeated, memories of Arche suddenly rushing to my head, along with her gruesome death. Was I no better than the empire? I couldn't worry, though, since I had a girl that needed my help right now.

"I suppose I could, but you don't actually owe anything to me, and I wouldn't do much to help either," she said.

"Which is irrelevant, Karen, because any enemy of Midgard's is a friend of mine," I said.

"Well, I guess that's a nice thing..." she said, finally calm enough to not pause in the middle of her phrases and no longer cry. She was still shaking a bit, but it would be better, "Where can I go?"

"Let me show you to Martel," I said. I pulled her up from the ground, and supported her weight as we walked together towards the venter of the forest. We walked for a while, and then had to pause for her to get some more sadness out of her system. Eventually, we reached Martel.

"Hello, Akar, and I see you've brought a guest," Martel's voice rang. She appeared in front of me, in front of the tree, as Karen shied away a little behind me. Karen seemed a little scared of Martel, but she knew that Martel was a good guy, and not one of the treacherous people in this world that tried to make her life worse.

"Her name is Karen, and she's a half-elf. Her parents were killed in the disaster that befell Midgard. They were opponents of the corrupt government, and were murdered by soldiers, who then forced her to run. This world isn't a safe place any more, and I see it all stemming from that awful abomination of an empire. So she is okay to stay, right?" I asked.

"Well, I suppose we have no choice but to keep her. We have to have people to help, and anyone needing safety from evil is always welcome here. I do have a question, though. Karen, if one of your parents was an elf, then why is it that they were captured together? I thought Ymir was where all the elves lived regardless of whether they had loved ones outside of their own race," Martel said.

Karen spoke softly, a bit shy of Martel, "Well, my goddess, after what happened with Arche Klaine, which you should know about quite well, the elves have changed. They won't show it, but they're more tolerant of humans now, and they are no longer forced to stay in the forest if and only if they have a child outside of the forest. Well at least that's what my mom said. Because of Arche, I'm actually welcome in Ymir, but the elves still hate me and view me as twisted creation, like all the half-elves."

"Yes, Arche must have changed things. Being a hero yet an abomination to the elves let them see half-elves more fairly and made them question splitting up Arche from her mother. The people of Ymir are still secretive, however, and even I don't meddle in their affairs. The elves are arrogant, but they know they're still mortal. I still don't want to mess with them, since it will never accomplish anything," Martel said, "Anyways the history of the elves is irrelevant right now, and we should just worry about Karen. It's getting a bit late, and we need to figure out how Karen is going to stay here." She looked at the darkening sky, a dark red and blue haze covering the sky, moon out, and a few stars showed through the trees.

"Do you think anything will happen tonight?" I asked.

"Well, there's the chance, but it shouldn't make a difference. You're much more ready to fight at night than the human soldiers of Midgard. I am a bit worried about Karen though," she said, "Will she be okay through this war going on? Maybe we should find a decent place for her tomorrow."

"No, I'll be okay. I'm a half-elf, I can use magic. Besides, I've lived through the torn Midgard, and I lived through my parents' deaths. Nothing will happen that I can't handle," she said.

"Karen, I agree with Martel," I said, "You don't know what you're dealing with. This is an entire empire we're talking about, and Martel and I are immortals. You're just a half-elf girl."

"What do you mean I don't know what I'm dealing with? I lived in Midgard, if anyone should know what we're dealing with, it should be me," she said, in a tone that told me she would do anything to stay, "Besides, I have to do this. For my parents..."

"I'm not going to convince you otherwise. Do what you will. We'll see soon enough whether or not you're ready," I told her. And the deal was settled.

"So where am I going to stay?" she said.

"Uh... well the thing is, we're immortals, so I rest in the branches of a tree as a bird and Martel is part of the tree so she returns to the tree, and she essentially doesn't actually sleep. But you..." I said, "Well, we have to find a place near Yggdrasil for you. You think we should just clear the ground nearby?"

"But I can't live here... this isn't working out so well..." she said.

"You know, you could just stay in Totus. Of course, I'd have to be there to watch over you, but I know I have a duty to help Cless' father Miguel. Oh, I'm sorry, Karen, I never told you. A long time ago... I was an evil entity. Dhaos' spark was trapped inside me, and I was the one that murdered the ones that killed Dhaos: the heroes of time. You should know about them," I said slowly, expecting an explosion of hate.

"You were the evil one that killed them? I knew it was a big thing, but I had no clue it would be someone I ever met. Well, I'm a bit intimidated, but I know you now, and I don't even believe you," said Karen.

"Martel saved me. You should know the extent of Martel's power. Anyways, let's go to Totus. We'll see you tomorrow, Martel."

"Keep her safe," Martel told me, "The war is just beginning. I know it."

We walked along, her following me through the line of trees. I had no clue a single person like this could tap into my past in such a way. Perhaps it was because I had no real contact with the outside world, but I knew I had to be doing something right. I didn't feel the shock of pain that followed mentioning the heroes of time any more. It was now replaced by a sinking feeling in my stomach, followed by feeling that I had a real duty to fulfill. After walking around for a while, we made it out of the forest and into Totus village. Walking through the lines of houses, I spotted two crosses in the ground. I knew that was where I was heading. We approached the building.

"So... these two crosses," she said, putting her hand on the ground over them, "This is where Cless and Mint lie." She looked around, and across a small bridge a bit of a way away another cross was seen. "And that's Chester's grave, right? I feel so weird. You did this, but you also helped me. You're a bit confusing, Akar."

"Well... I don't know. You know what happened, there's nothing more that needs to be explained. Nothing I say will matter to you right now. Let's just go," I said. I knocked on the door.

A tall man stepped out. He looked a bit surprised at the sight of me and the surprise turned into confusion when he say Karen at my side, who slinked away behind me.

"So... Akar. You're here..." he said, "I don't know what to say to you. I can't respect your past actions, and I can't hate you're change. I can only..."

"Well first of all," I interrupted him, "I'm not here to talk about what you think about me or to give you any impressions of change. I know what I did was wrong, and if you're going to not believe Martel, then go right ahead. I'm here because I found this poor girl out in the forest. Her name is Karen and she came to the forest because the empire of Midgard killed her parents for treason and forced her to flee. She wants to help Martel and I with the battle against Midgard, but she has no place to stay."

"So now you're helping? So you expect me to believe that Midgard is evil and you're good in a kind of seesaw battle?" he asked, "What do you..."

"Miguel, let me tell you exactly what I want," I said, "First of all, I want to stay here nights to watch over Karen. She can stay here. That way I'll be protecting your village from any preemptive strike by Midgard. Besides, you can't argue with me when I'm only doing this to help this girl."

"What can she do? Tell me this isn't some ridiculous idea to take more from me," he said in an annoyed voice.

"Well, she's a half-elf. She already suffered enough anyways. We just need food for Karen and a place to stay during nights. Even if Cless is gone, can you at least give some help to save your world? I can't believe you," I said, Karen slinking even more behind my back to try to get away from the argument, "Karen, stop hiding. It'll be okay. You'll have a place to stay."

"Fine. Do what you will. I can't fight with you any more. You killed my will," he said.

Not wanting to argue any more, I just took the blame and let Karen go in. I glowed and turned into my white bird form and flew into the house, resting on the windowsill in an empty room which I could see was Cless' old room.

"I don't know what I can do with him. I can't oppose him, but I can't like him either. Well, Karen, let's get you some food and get you to bed," said Miguel.

Soon, Karen was on the bed sleeping soundly, her face glowing in the moonlight like an angel. I thought on all the peace and tranquility, and knew in my mind it would all be shattered soon. I wondered long and hard how my life, so many twists and turns, took yet another one. Now I had found another duty; to protect this girl. What could I do? Things would be so much simpler without her, yet I had no choice but to cater to her needs. I definitely wasn't going to have yet another innocent person killed because of me. I had to care, and whether or not that care was actually a good choice, I couldn't do anything otherwise any more. A war was definitely coming, and nothing could be done.

A war. A defense. A last stand. Another person for us against Midgard, but would it really be enough? Nothing was certain any more, but as I looked and thought in the moonlight, I knew one thing; I had a mission.


End file.
